Let's sift through every square inch of a 2013 Tahoe PPV

[Caddylack]

Let me tell you something about Chicago Motors and their “hand picked” vehicles. I bought an explorer eco-boost and the engine was garbage. It was low miles, but there was NO acceleration. $5000 later it runs like a top, VERY quick. In Chicago Motors favor, they did pay half of the repair bill, but anyone who hand picked this car, never checked the engine. They polish them up and sell them off. If you buy from them, go to the lot and test drive the cars and spend some money to get them checked. I will return there, I would purchase from them again, but I’d be careful. They have a 2018 Tahoe for $18k, but it has issues with oil pressure which means new pump and most likely lifter issues in the very near future. They said they would disclose that, but it’s not disclosed on their site or their eBay auction. Proceed with caution, but proceed anyway.

The cars are bought at auctions and flipped directly to buyers. It's inevitable that some of them will break.

One of my friends had the trans go out on his Caprice PPV shortly after purchase, and Chicago Motors helped him out with the rebuild.

Police cars are what they are. You get a lot for your money, but it's always a gamble.

Full disclosure: The very front edge of one of my frame rails has a ding in it. There is also a small crack in the bumper. I'm sure the vehicle hit a cactus at some point and it was never reported. It doesn't bother me.

Also I feel the need to mention that those Ford V6s are supposedly pretty problematic.

 

[Chickensandwich]

The cars are bought at auctions and flipped directly to buyers. It's inevitable that some of them will break.

One of my friends had the trans go out on his Caprice PPV shortly after purchase, and Chicago Motors helped him out with the rebuild.

Police cars are what they are. You get a lot for your money, but it's always a gamble.

Full disclosure: The very front edge of one of my frame rails has a ding in it. There is also a small crack in the bumper. I'm sure the vehicle hit a cactus at some point and it was never reported. It doesn't bother me.

Also I feel the need to mention that those Ford V6s are supposedly pretty problematic.

They are problematic, but when a company supposedly hand picks the best cars and shines them up real nice, you expect a better quality car, this was not my experience. They helped with the bill, but it was a bill I never expected to have. I just bought an auction car, it has issues and is not clean, but at the same time, I saved about $3000 buying it direct. I expect issues, but have $3000 to play with. If they bought the car, they’d clean it up and sell it off and take the $3000 as profit. They are a bit misleading in how they advertise, but again, I’d go back, just more carefully.

 

[Ebay Mike]

They are problematic, but when a company supposedly hand picks the best cars and shines them up real nice, you expect a better quality car, this was not my experience. They helped with the bill, but it was a bill I never expected to have. I just bought an auction car, it has issues and is not clean, but at the same time, I saved about $3000 buying it direct. I expect issues, but have $3000 to play with. If they bought the car, they’d clean it up and sell it off and take the $3000 as profit. They are a bit misleading in how they advertise, but again, I’d go back, just more carefully.

Having worked for one of Chicago Motors competitors back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I can tell you exactly how they hand pick cars. They buy based on the mileage and they buy the lower mile cars. They try to get the best they can and sometimes even low mile cars can have undisclosed issues and the auction house does not tell you ANY back story on the vehicles. I bought over 500 Caprices and Crown Vic's over the years and the company I worked for, Blue Streak Motors out of Ashland KY was also a top quality buyer so I went head to head with Chicago Motors and also Asia Motors at most police vehicle auctions that I attended. There are plenty of bottom feeder auction buyers out there but these three companies all sought to buy the best of the available cars.

 

[Caddylack]

Having worked for one of Chicago Motors competitors back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I can tell you exactly how they hand pick cars. They buy based on the mileage and they buy the lower mile cars. They try to get the best they can and sometimes even low mile cars can have undisclosed issues and the auction house does not tell you ANY back story on the vehicles. I bought over 500 Caprices and Crown Vic's over the years and the company I worked for, Blue Streak Motors out of Ashland KY was also a top quality buyer so I went head to head with Chicago Motors and also Asia Motors at most police vehicle auctions that I attended. There are plenty of bottom feeder auction buyers out there but these three companies all sought to buy the best of the available cars.

For sure. I would mention, though, that they do sometimes buy high-mile cars in cases where they feel the mileage is "misleading", so to speak. Every so often you will see them list a car that you can't believe has 300k on it.

They also get stuff that is fairly rare, like the 8.1L 4x4 models, for example. Those cost a LOT, though.

 

[Chickensandwich]

Having worked for one of Chicago Motors competitors back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I can tell you exactly how they hand pick cars. They buy based on the mileage and they buy the lower mile cars. They try to get the best they can and sometimes even low mile cars can have undisclosed issues and the auction house does not tell you ANY back story on the vehicles. I bought over 500 Caprices and Crown Vic's over the years and the company I worked for, Blue Streak Motors out of Ashland KY was also a top quality buyer so I went head to head with Chicago Motors and also Asia Motors at most police vehicle auctions that I attended. There are plenty of bottom feeder auction buyers out there but these three companies all sought to buy the best of the available cars.

Ok BUT, when you buy a car at an auction and the car is less than expected, wouldn’t you fix the issues? If you hand pick the cars and then get them to you lot and it runs like crap, wouldn’t you fix it? The point I was making is that they rely on their statement of hand picking cars to make you feel comfortable in your purchase. They owe it to their custoemrs to find and fix issues BEFORE they sell the cars. It’s nice that they help with repairs, but I still have to take time off work and sit at the mechanics shop and then pay half….for problems that shouldn’t be there.

“We hand pick the best cars”…but MY car needed expensive front end and engine work. The turbo tubes were rotted and one wasn’t connected. All you need to do is LOOK to find those issues.

This is my point. There are no excuses for that kind of oversight.

 

[Ebay Mike]

Ok BUT, when you buy a car at an auction and the car is less than expected, wouldn’t you fix the issues? If you hand pick the cars and then get them to you lot and it runs like crap, wouldn’t you fix it? The point I was making is that they rely on their statement of hand picking cars to make you feel comfortable in your purchase. They owe it to their custoemrs to find and fix issues BEFORE they sell the cars. It’s nice that they help with repairs, but I still have to take time off work and sit at the mechanics shop and then pay half….for problems that shouldn’t be there.

“We hand pick the best cars”…but MY car needed expensive front end and engine work. The turbo tubes were rotted and one wasn’t connected. All you need to do is LOOK to find those issues.

This is my point. There are no excuses for that kind of oversight.

I was not trying to defend them or explain their business practices but share my insight into what I saw them do at the many auctions they were at that I was at. All the rest is between you and them.

 

[Ebay Mike]

For sure. I would mention, though, that they do sometimes buy high-mile cars in cases where they feel the mileage is "misleading", so to speak. Every so often you will see them list a car that you can't believe has 300k on it.

They also get stuff that is fairly rare, like the 8.1L 4x4 models, for example. Those cost a LOT, though.

I surely was not trying to defend them or explain their business practices. I simply referred to what I saw when I dealt with them at auctions.

 

[Chickensandwich]

I was not trying to defend them or explain their business practices but share my insight into what I saw them do at the many auctions they were at that I was at. All the rest is between you and them.

They don’t do anything different that anyone else does. Everyone was low mileage cars in great shape. They need to live up to their advertising, that’s what I’m saying.

 

[Ebay Mike]

They don’t do anything different that anyone else does. Everyone was low mileage cars in great shape. They need to live up to their advertising, that’s what I’m saying.

You obviously have an axe to grind with them and now I am sorry I ever even said anything. I'll go back to minding my own business. Peace Out!

 

[Chickensandwich]

You obviously have an axe to grind with them and now I am sorry I ever even said anything. I'll go back to minding my own business. Peace Out!

I don’t have an axe to grind with them. They were helpful when issues arose. All I’m saying is that their advertising didn’t live up to what the final product turned out to be. With their statement of hand picked cars, you expect to take home a superior example of a used police car. This one was not and it sounds others have the same experience. It’s not a bad place and if you can go to the lot and hand pick one of their hand picked cars, you could do well, but dont trust the advertising.